The quick hit

The latest entry in the young-adult sweepstakes is a punishing dystopia about a supposedly many-sided heroine who mostly registers as a blank slate.

Grade: D

After all the hype about this worldwide best-selling young-adult franchise, you probably know the “Divergent” drill even if you haven’t read the books.

But just in case: A future society based in decayed Chicago is built around five factions. The members of Abnegation are selfless and charitable and rule the state. Those who belong to Amity are friendly and conciliatory and do the farming. Candor contains the honest citizens who operate the courts. Dauntless is the home of the brave – society’s protectors, its warriors – while Erudite attracts intellectuals, who teach and do increasingly risky research.

The movie qualifies for several different categories: Solemnity, Pomposity and Tedium. It contains two laughs and one giggle, which at a 140-minute running time is – well, even if you’re not Erudite, you can do the math. This dyspeptic dystopia is unremittingly grim as it attempts to lay out a crackpot parable about the need for real democracy and free choice.

In the novel, one leader explains that people originally divided into factions based on what they blamed for society’s evil. If you blamed aggression you joined Amity; ignorance – Erudite; duplicity – Candor; selfishness – Abnegation; cowardice – Dauntless. The movie emphasizes that each faction is perfectly suited to supply one of society’s needs. To most adult and young-adult filmgoers, these explanations will seem insane.

The young heroine, Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior (Shailene Woodley), is considered a “Divergent.” A compulsory aptitude test – typical sci-fi hocus-pocus involving drug-induced visions and electrodes – reveals that she could fit into three factions: Abnegation, Erudite or Dauntless. She must keep her true nature a secret because multifaceted personalities like hers threaten the status quo.

Beatrice is the daughter of two Abnegation leaders, Andrew and Natalie Prior (Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd). As the new Chicago motto goes, all citizens must treasure faction before blood. So when Beatrice decides to leave Abnegation and enter Dauntless – taking the more kick-ass name of “Tris” – she doesn’t merely leave her loving home for good. She also casts doubt on the values and character of Abnegation. Her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) choosing to enter Erudite only increases the bad publicity.

All is not calm among the factions. The smarty-pants in Erudite – led by a genius in a tailored skirt-suit, Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet) – accuse Abnegation of hoarding goods and shielding Divergents. They want to seize that faction’s right to govern. The original author, Veronica Roth, thanks God at the top of her acknowledgments, “for your Son and for blessing me beyond comprehension.” She says her religion doesn’t overtly influence her narrative. But subscribers to faith, hope and charity fare better in her universe than master thinkers.

You can see why Tris would select Dauntless. These pierced, tattooed daredevils look electrifying from afar. But once she enters their initiation program, it’s like basic training run by extreme sportsmen, vicious frat boys and the occasional mad scientist. After learning how to shoot guns, throw knives and survive ultimate fighting, they must also undergo virtual simulations of their deepest fears.

The movie is both sadistic and PG-13 proper. Gory incidents from the book, like one Dauntless candidate stabbing a rival in the eye with a butter knife, have been tastefully excised.

Director Neil Burger and screenwriters Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor fail to orchestrate any rise and fall of momentum or adrenaline. The movie lacks an engulfing vision. Burger has proved his talent for sparking solid performances and prickly suspense (“The Illusionist,” “Limitless”). In “Divergent,” though, he doesn’t generate any sustained oomph, viscerally or emotionally. He lacks the Spielberg-like gift of putting an audience in the heroine’s shoes without sacrificing scope or whirlwind movement.

For example, even when Tris swoops down a vertiginous zip line through the heart of the Windy City, Burger simply cuts between close-ups of his heroine and wider views of her dizzying route and target destination. He lacks a killer instinct for the you-are-there shot. Jackhammer music and sound design are all that hold the action scenes together.

Burger lets some actors get repetitive and others go stiff or uncertain. Miles Teller barely wipes the smirk off his face as Tris’ bête noire, though he and Woodley were revelations as lovers in “The Spectacular Now.” Theo James wins the romantic role here as a righteous Dauntless instructor. In this fantasy, you are what you look like – and James, who can brood even with his back muscles, is the designated heartthrob. Woodley retains her vigor and unblemished charm, but the writers and director force her to fall back on her skill at wavering, half-formed emotions. During the save-the-day climax, you may think they’ve sent a girl to do a wonder woman’s job.

Roth’s “Divergent” trilogy has sold 10 million copies – and some of them must have gone to happy customers. I wonder how many belong to the Enjoyment faction.

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